I see your point and I see (all around me) the problems you're rightfully trying to avoid.
What is missing is the check and balance of equal participation.
By making paying taxes everyone's responsibility instead of making a few pay everyone's taxes, we all will pay more attention to not only how much we pay, but how the money is spent!
With Cain's plan, we're all treated like and act like adults instead of acting like college students expecting the parents to pay our bills.
Hate to say it, but it's time to grow up America.
Pay your share, instead of taking what you can get.
(JFK said it better.)
I'm sorry, turning every person, including your babysitter and lemonaid stand operator into a sales tax collecting agent for the federal government is WAY too much government participation in every activity in life.
It is bad enough I need to chronicle the aggregate of each quarter year of my life to the Fe'ral Government, but Cain wants each and every financial transaction to be public record with every i and j dotted and t crossed or face the violent and punitive police powers of the ever present State.
Furthermore, are you prepared to pay an additional 9% on your next house or car? Most people have a devil of a time conjuring up the 20% to satisfy the mortgage broker - how about coming up with an additional 9% - at the time of purchase - just to satisfy the Washington Monster?
Now extrapolate this to industry. If any capital improvement has an additional 9% toll placed on it that must be paid up front, how does that work out for a billion dollar energy facility, chemical plant or semiconductor fab?
Talk about forcing the manufacturing industry out of the country by levying a pay-to-play fee of 9% of total assessed value. Then because of the flat tax, NONE of it can be deducted for depreciation which really sucks when the startup isn't destined to make any profit for the first couple of years. They still have to pay the tax despite profitability. Yet another way to crush startups and expansion in the US.
Cain would be a bulldozer smoothing out the remaining standing wreckage of an economy following the wrecking ball and ANFO used by our government to Cloward/Pivens the existing one.
We don't need an encore to this botched performance.